Aesthetics and efficacy in community theatre in contemporary Northern Ireland

In July 1999, the Wedding Community Play was performed in Belfast. A much-celebrated event at the time, the Wedding Play took audiences into private houses inside Loyalist and Republican estates, then on to a public venue for the performance of a cross-community wedding. Gerri Moriarty has already w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Research in drama education 2010-02, Vol.15 (1), p.111-117
Main Author: Jennings, Matt
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aesthetics
Audiences
Dramatic Play
Foreign Countries
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland (Belfast)
Self Efficacy
Social Environment
Theater Arts
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In July 1999, the Wedding Community Play was performed in Belfast. A much-celebrated event at the time, the Wedding Play took audiences into private houses inside Loyalist and Republican estates, then on to a public venue for the performance of a cross-community wedding. Gerri Moriarty has already written about some of the difficulties encountered in the production (Moriarty 2004). In this article, the author discusses issues of aesthetics, efficacy, expectation and reception, in relation to this performance and other community theatre projects developed in Northern Ireland since 1998. Then, the author discusses these issues in more detail with regard to a production of "The Playboy of the Western World" that took place in 2008, just outside Derry City, in the mass of working-class estates known as Greater Shantallow. Before discussing "The Playboy of the Western World," the author briefly frames the social context of applied theatre within Northern Ireland. (Contains 3 notes.)
ISSN:1356-9783
1470-112X
DOI:10.1080/13569780903481086